She was born male on the Portugal Island of Madeira, under the name of Jorge Leodoro, but she was known as Carlos Leodoro . She moved to England in 1996 and worked in a department store in Woking, where she lives. She has also managed a children's bookstore. Before entering the Big Brother house she worked as a cashier in Barclays bank.

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Almada competed in Big Brother that took place in 2004. After 71 days in the Big Brother House, she emerged as the winner, securing 74% of the overall vote and winning £63,500.
Winning the programme was of great importance to Almada, not because of the prize money, but for the chance to be accepted by society as a woman. In the house she kept his past a secret from her housemates, although the production team and the audience knew, as did a housemate who entered the house some weeks into the competition. Some housemates suspected it, such as Marco Sabba and Jason Cowan, but said nothing to Almada. She heard people outside the house discussing it, which upset her, but the other housemates said they did not hear (although Stuart Wilson later claimed he did).

Almada's popularity with the audience possibly came from her dress sense, her gentle but also volatile nature and her humorous side - such as extreme use of brooms - and showering in her 6-inch high heeled sandals. She felt that she would be voted off at the earliest opportunity due to her past, but this too endeared her to the public.

Her father, Luis, did not know his child was transsexual until The Sun newspaper tracked him down and revealed the story. The Sun also dubbed Nadia the Portugeezer, the "Portuguese Man O' War" and NADS, NADS being a slang term for gonads (testicles).[1] Her mother hadn't seen her for a year, since before transitioning, but was there to welcome her back into the outside world after the show concluded. Her mother then told Almada how proud she was of her.

Since Big Brother, Almada released a music single called, "A Little Bit of Action" which charted at #27 in December, 2004. She also made a guest appearance in soap opera Hollyoaks, turning on the Christmas Lights. She entered the Big Brother house (Australia series 5) visiting the three finalists during #Week 14. A temperamental housemate had Almada in tears within hours of her entry, by asking if she was born a man or a woman, however Almada became close to the housemates during her stay.

Nadia has since been on many television appearances, one in an advert for Big Brother (UK series 7) Golden Tickets, where she was a shop assistant in a supermarket stealing Kit Kat bars as she scanned them, and an appearance in a sketch in June 302006's episode of The Friday Night Project, where they parodied another sketch from Little Britain. She also appeared on 8 Out of 10 Cats, a comedy panel show as a panelist. Host Jimmy Carr joked, that "throughout the world, there have been 114 Big Brother winners - 67 male, 46 female, and Nadia".